Topic Reading-Vol.4860-8/14/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Italy's undercover pizza detectives

Born as a street food in Naples, Italy, in the late 1800s, pizza has become one of the most popular dishes in many places around the world. There are diverse styles and regional variations, such as Pizza Napoletana, Pizza Romana, Sfincione (Sicilian pizza), pizza al taglio, and pinsa romana. Two traditional types of Neapolitan pizza represent the typical Neapolitan pizza: the Margherita, topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil, and the Marinara with oregano, garlic, and tomatoes but without cheese. In 1984, the True Neapolitan Pizza Association (AVPN) was founded to promote and protect in Italy and worldwide the true Neapolitan pizza, which is inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. After its rigorous nine-day training course at AVPN, trainees take exams to be certified pizzaiolo. There are about 1,000 accredited pizzerias in many parts of the world that employ an AVPN-trained pizzaiolo and maintain strict standards. Those restaurants and pizzerias are secretly inspected by pizza agents from AVPN, and if a problem is verified, the restaurant or pizzeria is removed from the list. While the organization is committed to preserving the tradition, it is also accepting new styles of cooking, including electric ovens and untraditional toppings. After all, the pizza of today isn’t the same as the one when the organization was established four decades ago.

Read the article and learn about what is so special about authentic Pizza Napoletana.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250801-italys-undercover-pizza-detectives

Topic Reading-Vol.4859-8/13/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

North Korea sent me abroad to be a secret IT worker. My wages funded the regime

North Korea has been imposed economic and financial sanctions by many countries, including the US, the EU, India, Japan, and the UN for more than a dozen years to pressure it to give up its nuclear projects, cyberattacks, money laundering, and human rights violations. But the world’s most secretive and authoritative nation still needs to earn foreign currencies to purchase electric parts, equipment, machinery, oil, and luxury items for the elite from other countries. They send dancers and singers to state-run Korean restaurants abroad to earn money and send it back to North Korea. Also, they make their IT specialists disguise their identities to work for foreign employers and send back most of their earnings to the regime. Those IT workers abroad make little money for themselves, but most of them feel their lives are better than back home. In some cases, such workers are forced to engage in stealing data or hacking their employers to demand ransoms. How will North Korea use agentic AI to manage the international sanctions?

Read the article and learn about secretive North Korean IT workers working abroad.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15wk77zxngo

Topic Reading-Vol.4858-8/12/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Why Filipinos keep getting married in flooded churches

Situated on the eastern shore of Manila Bay, Manila is the capital of the Philippines, where over 13 million people live in the Metro area, one of the most densely populated and flood-suffering areas in the world. Naturally, the area is a floodplain with four rivers that act as natural water channels. Also, as many as 10 typhoons hit the Philippines each year, making the island nation one of the most vulnerable countries to tropical cyclones. Furthermore, human factors, including overdevelopment, over-extraction of groundwater, insufficient drainage systems, and the buildup of silt and waste in waterways, make the metro area more vulnerable to flooding. For those who plan to have an event in a week or so in advance, they can take the weather forecast into consideration. But wedding ceremonies are usually scheduled months in advance. Also, funeral services cannot be planned earlier than a week. So, sometimes, the bride and groom have to wade through knee-deep water, and a casket can be placed on stilts above water for their services in church. Will the Philippines relocate its capital functions to a less crowded place like Indonesia did in its sinking capital city, Jakarta?

Read the article and learn how vulnerable the Philippines’ capital is to flooding.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9y02rn7pzo

Topic Reading-Vol.4857-8/11/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The new tourist fines sweeping Europe

Though it may be too hot in many places, summer is the time for many to have fun. But there are summer vacationers who enjoy just themselves doing what they want with little or no respect or consideration for the residents, local community, or environment. In addition to overtourism, many popular tourist destinations in Europe have come to the point of imposing penalties on unruly tourists who behave poorly, causing trouble or disruption to the local community. In Barcelona, Cannes, and Venice, those who wear only swimwear away from the beach will be fined up to €1,500. In Mallorca and the Canary Islands, drinking alcohol in public may cost €3,000. In Greece, if you take a shell or pebble from a beach, you may be fined as much as €1,000. Also, if you swim in a canal in Venice, you could get a €350 fine. These rules may sound too rigid or punitive, but they also protect the vacation experiences of responsible and considerate travelers. And again, your travel destinations are also the hometowns for the residents. Do you want to be welcomed or unwelcomed?

Read the article and learn about fines introduced for unruly tourists.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250808-the-new-tourist-fines-sweeping-europe

Topic Reading-Vol.4856-8/10/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

YouTube to be included in Australia’s social media ban for children under 16

Children are vulnerable to cyberbullying and exposure to harmful content, especially on social media. Last November, Australian parliament passed a bill to ban children under 16 from using social media, the world’s strictest laws. Australian children below the age of 16 will be unable to have social media accounts under the ban, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, and YouTube after December 10 this year. These social media companies will be required to take "reasonable steps" to ensure there are no workarounds before the restrictions take effect, or they could face fines of up to $50 million. Children will be able to access YouTube, the most popular video platform, but will not be allowed to have their own YouTube accounts. The decision was made after the nation’s online regulator found that nearly 40% of children surveyed reported seeing harmful content on YouTube, including sexist, misogynistic, or hateful ideas, dangerous online challenges, fights, or unhealthy eating or exercise habits videos. SNS platformers are trying to detect underage users by using AI to deactivate personalized ads while activating well-being tools. But most children spend hours each day on screens. What will they do? Will they watch Disney videos or read educational content?

Read the article and learn about Australia’s strict ban on social media for underage users.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/30/tech/australia-youtube-social-media-ban-intl-hnk

Topic Reading-Vol.4855-8/9/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The Caribbean islands that give you a passport if you buy a home

Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia are five island nations in the Eastern Caribbean, with each population ranging from 53,000 to 183,000. They not only attract tourists to their coastal resorts and communities but also welcome new citizens who invest or donate money to their countries. They offer a Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program, which allows individuals to gain citizenship in a country by making a significant financial contribution to its economy. They will issue a passport that allows the holder to enter 150 countries without a visa to those who purchase a property or make a donation of greater than USD200,000. Having a second citizenship in a country where capital gains or inheritance taxes is strong incentives to those who want to save taxes. Also, it could serve as a safety guard for those who are concerned about their nation’s status or future, including the USA. However, the program could be used by those who try to evade taxes or conduct criminal activities. Still, CBI has become an integral part of their GDP and infrastructure development for those Caribbean countries where sea levels are rising faster than the global average. 

Read the article and learn about the Caribbean countries that are effectively selling a passport.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly88xg5d9vo

Topic Reading-Vol.4854-8/8/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

What ‘starvation’ really means, for the human body and for Gaza

The Gaza Strip is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories in the Southern Levant region, surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt, and Israel. An estimated two million people, mostly Muslims, live in the narrow 365 km² area. Immediately after the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023, Israel started attacking and invading the Gaza Strip. It killed tens of thousands of civilians and destroyed most dwellings, buildings, roads, and infrastructure, and made the area nearly uninhabitable. There are only three crossings in and out of Gaza, all of which are now controlled by Israel. Far less than the daily essentials needed, including water, food, and medicine, have been brought into the strip for the two million residents, journalists, medical staff, and aid workers. This man-made starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths, or famine, among everyone in Gaza. What does severe and prolonged starvation do to the body? What is starving to death like?

Read the article and learn how people in Gaza are suffering from man-made starvation.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/4/what-starvation-really-means-for-the-human-body-and-for-gaza